Snow blower dead man control

Claim 1

In a snow blower unit having a front auger, rear wheels, an engine for driving said auger and wheels, and a rearwardly extending handle on said unit, a pair of pulleys on said unit, one of said pulleys having a drive and no drive connection with said rear wheels which includes a first manually operable control on said handle having a forward, reverse, and neutral drive position, the other of said pulleys having a drive connection with said auger, a pair of clutches and a clutch selector mechanism therefor adjacent said pulleys for engaging and disengaging said pulleys with said engine, a second manually operable control on said handle for operating said clutch selector mechanism, a third manually operable control on said handle for operating said clutches in accordance with the setting of said selector mechanism as determined by the selected position of said second control, and means automatically disengaging said clutches upon hand release of said third control, said pair of clutches and clutch selector mechanism therefor comprising another pair of pulleys on said engine, a pair of pulley belts extending between said engine pulleys and unit pulleys, a pair of idler pulleys, a pair of operators for engaging said idler pulleys with said belts, said pair of operators being mounted on a shaft, another operator mounted on said shaft between said pair of operators, said shaft and another operator being immovably fixed with respect to each other, said shaft being rotatable and lengthwise movable with respect to said pair of operators whereby said shaft can be lengthwise moved to move said another operator between said pair of operators, means on said another operator for interlock with at least one or both of said pair of operators depending on the lengthwise position of said shaft, said second control being connected to said shaft to lengthwise move the same, and said third control being connected to said another operator to move those of the pair of operators interlocked therewith.